The pair lost the tennis mixed doubles bronze medal play-off, going down 6-1, 7-5 to Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in just 71 minutes.
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After being completely outplayed in the opening set, the Indian pair tried to lift their performance in the next set but came up short in their bid to force a super-tiebreaker.
And, now Sania and Boppana in the bronze medal play-off and give India its first medal in the Rio Games.
A resurgence from the American pair saw them claw their way back into the match in the second set. Sania also supported him with strong forehands. The Czech pair held serve to take the first game 40-15, sped to a 4-0 lead which became 5-1 following a brief Indian rally, and thumped the first set 6-1.
Kei Nishikori won Japan’s first Olympic tennis medal in nearly a century yesterday when he captured bronze against Rafael Nadal, despite the tired Spaniard mounting a stirring mid-match fightback.
Meanwhile, there was some hope for the Indians in badminton as PV Sindhu came from a game down to beat Canada’s Michelle Li 19-21, 21-15, 21-17 to enter women’s singles Round of 16. Although, after the first set Sania and Bopanna finds it too hot to handle the counter-attacking of the Venu.
Lalita, in fact, finished with the seventh-best time in the heats by clipping almost seven seconds off the existing national mark standing in the name of Sudha (9:26.55), clocked in Shanghai in May. “I think that’s one of my biggest strengths which is why I am able to perform the way I am at that level”, she said.
The Indian pair still has a shot at the bronze medal for which they will now play losers in the of the encounter between Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock of the USA versus Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
“Now all the focus for the final on the Independence Day”, said Lalita.
Meanwhile, another Indian in the fray, Sudha Singh failed to qualify for the final round after finishing a distant 30th in the overall rankings. The Indians started cranking up the pressure on Hradecka, breaking her serve, resulting in a lead of 3-1.
The top six qualified for the summit contest in the both shooting events.
Gurpreet, who was placed 10th at the end of first qualifying phase with 289 points, collected a total of 292 points for a total of 581, including 24x, to miss the finals by a whisker.
After Mairaj was tied with tied with four other shooters, the last two semifinals sports were shoot-off where the Indian, who was 10th overnight, dropped to ninth with a +3.
There was some respite for India, though, as Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu won their matches to make the knock-out stages in the men’s and women’s singles respectively, but earning a medal is no certainty for either of them.
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The Indians took a 3-2 lead in the tie-breaker before Venus levelled the scores with an excellent cross court victor.
